If XSane is started as Gimp plugin, the scanned image automatically is transfered to the Gimp.

To start xsane as a GIMP plugin, you have to set a symbolic link from
the xsane binary to a GIMP plug-ins directory. In the following examples
we assume that xsane is located in /usr/local/bin:

gimp-1.0.x:

ln -s /usr/local/bin/xsane ~/.gimp/plug-ins/

You can start xsane from the GIMP menu Xtns/Xsane

gimp-1.1.x:

ln -s /usr/local/bin/xsane ~/.gimp-1.1/plug-ins/

until gimp-1.1.9 you can start xsane from the GIMP menu Xtns/Xsane
since gimp-1.1.10 you can start xsane from the GIMP menu File/Acquire

gimp-1.2.x:

ln -s /usr/local/bin/xsane ~/.gimp-1.2/plug-ins/

You can start xsane from the GIMP menu File/Acquire.

The GIMPīs XSane or Acquire menu contains short-cuts to the SANE devices that
were available at the time xsane was queried.

Note that gimp(1) caches these short-cuts in ~/.gimp/pluginrc.
Thus, when the list of available devices changes (e.g., a new scanner
is installed or the device of the scanner has changed), then it is
typically desirable to rebuild this cache. To do this, you can either
touch(1) the xsane binary (e.g.,"touch /usr/local/bin/xsane") or
delete the plugin cache (e.g., "rm ~/.gimp*/pluginrc"). Either
way, invoking gimp(1) afterwards will cause the pluginrc to be rebuilt.

If xsane is started as GIMP plugin it always sends the scanned image to the GIMP.
Copy and fax mode can not selected when xsane runs as GIMP plugin!